mipcom 2008 saw a session on animation co-production in Asia, in which a number of senior executives outlined their co-production experiences with major Western studios. International division manager at Toei Animation Kenji Ebato; CEO Synergy Media Eugene Kang; Jonathan Wang, CEO of Greatdreams Cartoon Group: and Lei Wang, deputy director, TV Drama Center at Shanghai Media Group were generally optimistic, with panelists looking to debunk certain preconceptions about working with Asian studios. “People think it’s difficult, think it’s impossible to do anything in Asia, but we will co-produce not only for China, but for the US for example,” said SMG’s Lei Wang who is also vice president of ToonMax. Wang said that SMG’s Toonmax reaches 100 million children aged 4-14 in Shanghai and 20 provinces, adding that international players should seriously consider stories from Chinese culture, “We’ve got over 1 billion stories to choose from. Just look at the success of Kung Fu Panda, global interest in China is at an all time high – it’s time to bring more Chinese stories to the international market.” But asked about trying to co-produce in China, given a perceived inconsistency on the part of regulatory body SARFT (State Administration Radio Film & TV) he admitted there have been problems, “Yes there have some difficulties, but SARFT is encouraging co-production, please be patient.” Greatdreams Cartoon Group CEO Jonathan Wang echoed his SMG namesake’s optimism about China. “The country has 367 million children, with a spending power of RMB 200 million, growing at an annual rate of 20 percent. Looking at (programming-related) clothing, toys and food products, the consumer goods market is witnessing 25-30 percent growth – because there is a rise in the middle classes in China. Our company is one of the leading merchandisers in the country, with 80 licensees, retail stores and plans for a theme park.” Toei’s Ebato says that the Japanese animation giant behind the likes of Sailormoon, Digimon and DragonballZ is also looking at China, having opened an office in Shanghai (in discussion with partners like Shanghai Media Group) and travelling to India every month on the lookout for opportunities there. He said Toei had entered into a number of co-production initiatives with the likes of Walt Disney Japan on RobodZ, Cartoon Network on PowerPuff GirlsZ, and Korea’s KBS on Taichi Chaser. He did however caution, that in one instance, the 50:50 percentage share of the production costs, did not equate to an equal share of the distribution rights. “Toei got home entertainment, licensing and merchandising, and digital distribution rights for Japan – while our partner got the worldwide TV rights – that doesn’t seem so fair to me,” he joked. Offering a Western company’s perspective on co-productions in Asia is Tokyo-based Julie Ninomiya, vice president, Asia operations, of Canada HQ’d Cookie Jar Entertainment. “Our first treaty co-production was Spider Riders with Yomiko Advertising Inc., in Japan, Recent projects) Noonbory and the Super 7 and Metajets are our third and fifth such projects – with South Korean companies Daewon Media and Sunwoo Entertainment, respectively. Metajets was sizzled at MIPCOM, but will launch properly at MIPTV 2009.” Ninomiya says we are definitely seeing Asian animation companies emerge from being mere service providers to becoming co-production partners. “The likes of Korea and Singapore have been doing service work for the US for many years, therefore there’s a lot of great talent in the region. Government bodies like KOCCA in Korea have been pushing opportunities for co-production rather than service work.” She continues, “In our partners Daewon and Sunwoo, we have companies that are very well-established in Korea and the region. Daewon have been working on the merchandise for Noonbory and the Super 7, in Korea lines tend to launch at the same time as the show goes to air, whereas in the US it can be around a year later – a show needs to have proven ratings success before merchandising is launched in North America. Four broadcasters in Canada will be airing Noonbory and the Super 7, it will be on Free TV broadcaster EBS in Korea, as well as on Daewon Media’s channels.” “In the case of Noonbory and the Super 7, it was a Daewon original title, and Cookie Jar approached them for the co-production. They had been working on it six years before Cookie Jar became involved. It then had to be shaped into a pre-school property – because in Asia such shows tend to be more about fun, whereas in the US the emphasis is more educational. Metajets, aimed at boys aged 6-11, is a Cookie Jar original concept for which we had created some design, and Sunwoo added a lot more to the design such as how the characters morph into the Metajets.” Ninomiya says that companies should take care to clarify the terminology used, and the conditions of co-production agreements. “While the term co-production can be loosely applied to any production that has more than one production company involved, it doesn’t necessarily mean equality in that relationship,” she explains. “Our agreements are known as treaty co-productions, established between Canada and Korea – which means there are certain rules to abide by. There has to be a minimum percentage of work contributed by each partner, for Korea the percentage is 30 percent, while in Singapore it’s 20 percent. In Canada, tax relief can be calculated into the budget, and the TV fees are different for local content.” In terms of the distribution rights, Daewon and Sunwoo have the pan-Asian TV, home entertainment and merchandising rights for Noonbory and the Super 7 and Metajets respectively; Cookie Jar has the rest of the world. Ninomiya says that local partners will also receive a back-end percentage. “The upside of co-production is that we feel assured Asia will be covered effectively – especially in the partner’s home country. We also benefit from our partner’s creativity, there are some cultural differences between Asia and North America, so it helps us gain a better understanding of other cultures. And on a practical level, post-production costs are lower. The downside is mainly during the development stage as obviously ideas need to be agreed by both partners, so it can be time consuming taking things back and forth. But once in production things tend to go very smoothly. We are always open to other such co-productions with other countries, and it’s obviously easier with countries that have a treaty with Canada. But just because we can’t do treaty co-productions in some countries, that does not mean we are not open to opportunities.” Other treaty co-productions in which Cookie Jar is involved include Magi-Nation (also with Daewon Media), Gotta Catch Santa Claus (Enemes Inc., of Korea), and Hooray for the Huckle 2, a treaty co-production with Singapore’s Peach Blossom Media. Three or four other such co-productions are currently being negotiated, including a part animation, mainly live action co-prod with Australia and New Zealand. Over at Animax Asia, part of Sony Pictures Entertainment Networks Asia (SPENA), vice president and general manager, Gregory Ho shares a little about the joint production fund established with Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). EDB and SPENA signed an agreement in 2005 to commit US$3 million each to establish the US$6 million EDB – SPENA Joint Production Fund. Targeting to promote and grow Singapore’s production industry and made-by-Singapore content, the Fund sees EDB and SPENA co-finance productions made by production houses in Singapore, and has since funded productions including live-action shows Mondo Magic Singapore and Magic Asia which aired on action and adventure channel AXN. The first animated production to tap into this Joint Production Fund is LaMB, originating from a script titled Laminated Woman submitted by a Filipino viewer who participated in the Animax Awards 2007 regional script-writing competition. Explains Ho, “This script was so well written that Animax Asia decided to animate the script as the network’s first original animation production in HD and build it into a multimedia, mulitplatform production that spans TV, online and mobile. We sought EDB’s agreement to tap into the Joint Production Fund to produce the show with Singapore’s Peach Blossom Media and Imaginary Friends Studio.” For LaMB, TV elements include two half-hour segments and a one-hour finale debuting in Q1 2009, along with music videos for Simple Plan and The Click Five’s songs; online offerings are multiplayer online games, a dedicated website with downloadable content , and web manga (comics); as well as mobile content including mobisodes and graphic novels. The show will first broadcast on Animax Asia and channels within the SPENA family. Subsequent syndication for the show globally including Asia will be handled by SPTI Distribution. Ho says that while service work is the bread and butter for Asian animation companies, they are increasingly developing their own original IP and there is a noticeable animation boom taking place in Asia and especially in a market like India. “It is obviously riskier to develop original IP but the rewards of owning the IP for content is also much more attractive especially as the prevalence of three screens (TV, online and mobile) across the region increases. For animation, there is the added appeal of the potential of merchandising and gaming, which will be a welcomed alternate revenue stream. “Another lesser known advantage of developing original animation and owning the IP is that animation tends to have a much longer shelf life than live action productions. From experience, we have found anime/animation does not date as quickly as live-action shows. Hit blockbuster anime series, some even almost a decade old, can still command very high license fees and fees that actually increase considerably over the years as these popular titles are able to stand the test of time, and attract new generations of viewers in ever growing numbers and still deliver ratings. I have not observed this phenomenon in live-action programming.” On the lookout for co-production opportunities is budding independent animation studio Lincoln Butterfield Animation, launched by Robert Hughes (director on Disney’s Phineas & Ferb) and veteran business executive Joseph Walker, associate producer / partner, Lincoln Butterfield Animation. Having recently signed a worldwide representation agreement with PorchLight Entertainment for animated series Tan, Lincoln Butterfield presented three of its other animation concepts to interested co-production partners, content acquisition executives and third party distributors during the MIPCOM Junior and MIPCOM markets in Cannes in October 2008. Tan (pronounced ‘tahn’) follows the globe trotting travels of a young egg recently graduated from the Lo Fat Martial Arts Academy and Cooking School. Unfamiliar with the ways of the outside world, Tan will learn life lessons that are at once silly, irreverent, and ironic…but always optimistic. His curiosity, naiveté and gung-ho positive attitude will fill each 11-minute episode, told as a flashback from the older, wiser and slightly self-righteous Tan. Targeting kids of all ages, Tan is represented for worldwide pre-sales and distribution for all media by Porchlight Entertainment. Each of Lincoln Butterfield’s new properties – NIT: Neighborhood Investigation Team; Venture Probe and When in Rome – offer the potential for multiplatform property extensions, including publishing (comics and children’s books), broadband, mobile and feature films. TVAplus